Sell and Copyright your AI Songs
Sell and Copyright Your AI Songs at Songbay
We now Sell and Copyright AI songs at Songbay.
We are also one of the world’s largest and longest-standing original song licensing and song copyright agencies. We protect hundreds of thousands of songs and lyrics from copyright infringement and plagiarism on a daily basis. We have now decided to sell AI-generated songs.
The Hip Hop Keyboard!,,,,
In this article, we look at the implications of this new technology and offer some advice to its users.
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Question 1 – Who owns the copyright of an AI song?
If you’ve used an AI company to create a song using your lyric, you might think that you can claim the copyright to it since the song’s very existence is the result of the uniqueness of your words and the specific metadata you inputted when generating the song (your stylistic, arrangement and instrumental guidelines). This argument is similar to the one used by professional photographers to claim ownership of their “one-click” photos. In music however, the argument is not accepted legally- not yet anyway- lawyers are still debating!
The U.S. Copyright Office, along with most other copyright offices worldwide, assert that the copyright to an entirely AI-generated song cannot be claimed, that only human-generated content can be copyrighted, therefore AI songs fall into the realm of Public Domain works.
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Question 2 – Is it legal to upload and sell AI-generated songs on streaming platforms?
Yes. it’s legal, but be very careful when you do, for 2 reasons:
- If you add your lyric to an AI-generated song, without taking precautionary measures, your lyric could also become a Public Domain work, since a lyric added to a song becomes integral and thus part of the song. When this happens, your lyrics could be used/ stolen without your permission. You can protect against this by registering your songs and lyrics for free Copyright Protection at Songbay
- Most music distributors, and video streaming services, including YouTube, permit AI songs on their platforms. However, since you cannot claim the copyright, if you do upload and try to distribute them, anyone could legally copy or use the songs (public domain works can be copied and used freely).
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Question 3 – Is there anything else you can do to claim ownership of an AI song?
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Question 4 – Are AI songs original?
Interestingly, the litigation against the AI companies from the major record companies is centred around their absence of publishing permission when training their computers, not the originality of their generations.
The rules of copyright infringement are clear, irrespective of whether the infringing work was created by a robot or a human. If a song sounds too similar to another—even by coincidence, the newer version would be infringing upon the original and the owner of the later could face plagiarism lawsuits from the publisher.
Songbay’s unique Copyright Service >> is very useful in this regard, since it “time-stamps” the original source, providing evidence of a song or lyric’s existence on a specific date, which is vital in any potential plagiarism dispute.
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Question 5- Are AI songs better than human songs?
-Is a high quality song created by AI – one that is melodically, harmonically, rhythmically and stylistically strong, better than a high-quality song created by a human?
-Is a poor quality song created by AI better than a poor quality song created by a human?
Each on its merits we would say. Does it really matter to a buyer how a song is created if it’s a song they like?
As a team of experienced songwriters, we’ve listened to many hundreds of AI-generated songs across different genres; some terrible, some excellent! The majority, ‘average’ —minimal melodic movement, cliché chord progressions, scratchy robotic voices, a lack of dynamics and musical expression. The result – often ‘samey’-sounding, albeit with a half decent production quality. Based on our listening experience, we’d estimate: 60% average, 20% above average, 10% excellent, and 10% terrible. We can usually spot an AI song in about 10 seconds! When listening to lots of them in succession, it’s often ‘refreshing’ to hear a human song, with its innate musical expression and human flaws! In a list of AI songs- human ones often stand out. This might make all the difference to buyers when looking for songs to purchase at Songbay.
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Question 6 – Can I sell my AI songs at Songbay?
Sure, as long as they’re good enough!
So at Songbay we continue to accept songs based on their merit, not their creative process. If a song sounds fantastic, it deserves an outlet. Great songwriters aren’t going to be replaced by AI composers, and live musicians aren’t going away anytime soon either-and who wants to pay money to see someone with no musical ability “generate” a song live?,,,, 🙂
Like it or loath it, AI music is here to stay. The future for human artists is to use this new technology creatively and “humanely.” There’s no reason AI and human input can’t coexist peacefully!
As composers, musicians, and lyricists, we must continue developing our songwriting and performance skills in harmony with evolving technology. Viewed in the right way, this technology can enhance creativity. AI music tools offer new opportunities: generating musical ideas, exploring different styles, and overcoming creative blocks. By incorporating AI into their workflow, composers can blend human creativity with machine precision, resulting in innovative music that pushes the boundaries of traditional composition. This has always been the case—genres like techno and dance wouldn’t exist without sequencers and drum machines, hip-hop without samples and beat generators, or modern classical and film music without sample libraries. Even today’s commercial pop wouldn’t be the same without Auto-Tune.
What advice does Songbay give to Suno users and all AI Artists?
- Copyright your lyrics in your AI songs immediately to prevent them from falling into the public domain.
- Try to add as much human input to the AI-generated song as possible. Add live instruments, change the arrangement, remix, and remaster the song.
- Take advantage of our free remixing and remastering tools that add human aspects to your AI songs.
- Use an AI song as a starting point, not the finished product.
“Songbay Copyright protection crucially protects the human aspects of AI songs, such as the LYRIC”
- A question we are often asked-‘If you completely rework the AI-generated song by adding live instruments, vocals, a new arrangement, then remix, and remaster the entire project, does this count as a “cover version,” and would you then own the copyright to that cover version? The answer is ‘YES’. This is a great reason to ‘humanise’ your AI songs!’
“Songbay can humanise your AI songs”
Buy AI Songs at Songbay
To summarize Songbay’s position on AI songs:
- We will continue to accept all songs based on their merit not on their creation process.
- We will copyright the human created lyrics of an AI song, to prevent them from falling into the public domain.
- We will copyright all human elements in an AI song, such as live instruments, vocals, mixing, mastering, etc.
- We will copyright full cover versions of AI songs—those that have been completely reworked using live instruments and vocals to create a new version of the song.
- We will allow good quality AI songs to be displayed and sold at Songbay.
- We will encourage AI composers to use as much human input in their work as possible.
- We will not accept AI-generated lyrics.
